CAMEROONS. 



121 



the necessity of building a navy that could be 

 matched with that of any other power in order 

 to maintain colonial establishments, the Chan- 

 cellor asked : " Js it really impossible for us to 

 attain the naval strength of Portugal, of Hol- 

 land, of Spain, of the tJnited States, of Russia 

 even? Would Germany really be unable to 

 keep a navy which can hold the sea against all 

 other powers except England and France 

 nay, against them too such is the spirit that I 

 know is in our seamen? " Brought to his feet 

 again by a reference of the clerical leader to 

 the jealousy with which England in particular 

 viewed the colonial expansion of Germany, 

 Prince Bismarck declared it impossible that a 

 breach of the peace should occur between Ger- 

 many and England : " Our differences of opin- 

 ion with England will never, within the limits 

 of human foresight, go so far as not to be ca- 

 pable of settlement by honest good-will and 

 skillful, provident diplomacy, such as is not 

 wanting on our part." 



The conduct of the English on the coast gave 

 rise to fresh complaints on the part of the Ger- 

 man Chancellor. Consul Hewett treated the 

 Germans as interlopers, who were to be ousted 

 from the Cameroons, and summoned a Court 

 of Equity on German territory. Captain Camp- 

 bell, of the British war-ship Rapid, treated the 

 German flag with such discourtesy that Admi- 

 ral Knorr, commanding the German squadron, 

 reported that, but for remarkable forbearance 

 on his part, a collision would have occurred 

 between the vessels of the two powers. 



The Disturbances in the Cameroons. The trouble 

 on the Oameroons river which the German Gov- 

 ernment found it necessary to arrest with fire 

 and sword was a revolt against the German 

 protectorate and against the paramount chief, 

 King Bell, who had made the treaty by certain 

 of his under-chiefs who stood under English 

 influence and were instigated by intriguing 

 English traders. The Englishmen spread all 

 kinds of damaging reports against the " Ger- 

 man rogues." They incited the people against 

 King Bell by declaring that he had deceived 

 them in various particulars, and that he had, 

 instead of distributing among them half of the 

 sum received from the Germans according to 

 agreement, kept the greater part for himself. 

 If the German naval squadron had not been on 

 the coast, the Germans would have been exter- 

 minated in their pioneer colony, established 

 with such a flourish of trumpets. King Bell 

 was helpless against his rebellious tribesmen. 

 The German factories were threatened, and 

 the merchants paid a heavy ransom to induce 

 the negroes to put off the pillage for another 

 day. Although the English circulated every- 

 where with entire freedom, every German canoe 

 was stopped. The leaders of the revolt were 

 the chiefs of Joss Town and Hickory Town, 

 who, with their people, were entirely won over 

 by the English. The English Consul, Hewett, 

 was cognizant of the movement. Lock Prisso, 

 the Hickory Town chief, was Bell's most pow- 



erful vassal. Jim Equalla, the first chief of 

 Dido Town, stood in the same relation to King 

 Aqua, and aimed at independence. He was 

 partially recognized as independent in the Ger- 

 man treaties, and took sides with the Germans 

 during the disturbances; but Aqua took an 

 equivocal position. The uprising started with 

 a league between the Joss and Hickory people, 

 which was directed originally against King 

 Bell only, and not against the Germans. 



On the 20th, 21st, and 22d of December, 1884, 

 the marines of the Bismarck and Olga suppressed 

 by force of arms the bands of rebellious ne- 

 groes. Several chiefs and many natives were 

 killed and others captured. The Germans lost 

 one killed and eight wounded. Before the ar- 

 rival of the war-vessels the inhabitants of 

 Hickory Town and Joss Town had driven 

 away King Bell, threatened the merchants, 

 and burned Bell Town. On the 20th, 330 men 

 landed with four guns. Hickory Town was 

 taken with slight resistance and without loss. 

 It was learned that Pantanius, Woermann's 

 agent, had been carried off by Joss Town peo- 

 ple. An officer of the Olga hastened with a 

 party to the rescue. The men, sixty in num- 

 ber, landed under fire from Bell Town, stormed 

 a height, and held the top against four hundred 

 negroes firing from the bush until support ar- 

 rived from the Bismarck, when Joss Town was 

 stormed and burned, but Pantanius had been 

 murdered. On the 22d Hickory Town was 

 bombarded. 



The British Consul and Vice-Consul appeared 

 at King Aqua's town and made reclamations 

 for the property of English merchants and mis- 

 sionaries destroyed by the bombardment. A 

 Court of Equity was called and damages award- 

 ed. The German Government afterward con- 

 tested these claims, saying that the English 

 houses were fired upon because they harbored 

 the assailants of the Germans, who fired from 

 the shelter of the buildings. All the kinglets 

 and chiefs of the Cameroons river attended a 

 peace palaver on board the Olga on Dec. 29. 

 The Joss people, who burned Bell's Town and 

 menaced the German factories, fled to the 

 Quaqua river, and the Hickory people to the 

 upper course of the Cameroons. An amnesty 

 was granted to the Hickory people, and Lock 

 Prisso reconciled himself with King Bell and 

 the Germans. 



The people on the lower course of the Cam- 

 eroons and Mungo rivers belong to the Dualla 

 tribe. The most powerful chiefs of the group 

 on the coast, numbering about 24,000 souls, 

 who monopolize the trade with the interior, 

 are King Bell and King Aqua. They purchase 

 palm-oil and ivory from a second tribe of na- 

 tive traders, settled on the Abo and Wuri afflu- 

 ents of the Cameroons river, and on the Up- 

 er Mungo, who do not permit them to deal 

 irectly with the tribes beyond, while they 

 themselves are debarred from trading with the 

 factories on the coast. King Bell overcame 

 the second line of traders on the Mungo 



